What a crazy winter so far!
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| What an eventful winter already!
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| What's been happening at the Good Food Farm the last few months? I'm glad you asked. We had such a long fall this year that we managed to squeeze in a few bigger projects before the snow came in December. And then it just kept coming! And like most of you, I'm sure, we stayed busy shoveling and plowing it. |
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| We completed fencing in a 40 acre field at our new property in November. We will be seeding grass there in the spring to have more pasture and hayland close to home. |
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| We also cleared several fence lines at one of our pastures. We rented a brush mower for our skid-steer and used it to cut down small trees and shrubs that had grown up along the fences, making maintenance very difficult. Now we can walk or drive a quad around this pasture, making repairs much easier. |
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| Thanks to no snow, we managed to keep the cows out, grazing, until November 29th. A record for us! And only possible because we rented an additional 130 acres of pasture. Otherwise we would have run out of grass for the cows back in August, and would have had to feed hay. It was just way to dry last summer! |
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| We had planned to take December a bit slower and enjoy the holidays but that was not to be, especially when on December 22nd we woke to find that our large 20x100 foot greenhouse, which the laying hens over winter in, had collapsed under snow load. We knew that it couldn't handle much snow and had already taken snow off it twice in the previous weeks. But the snow came so fast that I underestimated how much had accumulated on it again, and then it was too late. Fortunately we were able to push it up again from the inside and build a temporary support structure underneath so that we can use it for the rest of the winter. We are not sure where we would have kept the chickens otherwise. What a sad sight. The chickens didn't seem to mind though. They didn't even have to duck. The goose might have though. Duck Duck Goose!? |
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| Shop Work Back in July we picked up this little wheel loader for cheap. Of course all that means is that it needs a bunch of work done on it. And since I (Norwin) was too busy in the summer to do that work, I finally got it in my dad's shop in December and started working on it. It's usable now, but still has lots of things left to be repaired. |
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| Another fall project was putting up this tarp shed to store our square bales of hay in. We also use it as shelter for our milk cows, and Ruth finally has a place where she can milk and get out of the wind. |
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| While the snow causes some issues, and extra work, we are grateful to have it. We desperately need the moisture and this will certainly help! Plus it sure is pretty! |
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| Enjoy winter Ya'll! Norwin & Ruth Willis Good Food Farm |
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| 🐷 P.S. Pre-Orders will open in the first week of February, so keep an eye out for that! 🐮 If you'd like to be notified by text, let us know. |
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